We Need More Shows like Aziz Ansari's Master of None

Finally, a show that embodies diversity! And not in a way that makes you think 'oh, this show was picked up purely because it will make the network look good to have a show focusing on a person of colour'. As Buzzfeed put it, Master of None is completely effortless in its diversity. Race isn't looked at in a one-episode special, it is smoothly integrated into the entire show simply because in reality, race is a fact of everyday life. Contrary to what many programmes set in the city would have us believe, people of colour aren't just extras that appear every few episodes; cities such as New York City (where MoN is set) and here in Auckland are melting pots of various ethnicities and cultures, thus people of different races are highly likely to interact every day.


The show is centred around Dev, a first-generation American guy whose parents are from India (same situation as the actor, Aziz Ansari, who grew up in South Carolina and whose parents are from Tamil Nadu in India). It's basically about Dev's life, his friends, his partners, and his job as an actor. His regular friends include Denise (an African-American lesbian played by Lena Waithe), Brian (a Taiwanese man played by Kelvin Yu, based on the show's co-creator Alan Yang) and Arnold - Arnold is the 'token' white guy, if you will, played by Eric Wareheim. There is also his girlfriend, Rachel, played by Noël Wells who also incidentally happens to be Hispanic but I think is playing a white person? Because every article I've read on her is talking about the fact that she is white? Anyway, either way they are an interracial couple, and this is not a problem for them ever, because, obviously, it shouldn't be. 

There are a few key moments where race is addressed as sometimes complicated in life; when Dev is trying to audition for a sitcom but is turned down because they already hired an Indian guy, and didn't need another one - basically, because they had found their token person of colour. Or when Dev and Brian are trying to understand what life was like for their parents before they came to America - highlighting the fact that just because Brian and Dev are not white and do appreciate their parents' cultures, does not mean that they are not quintessentially American.


These are important moments, but so is the rest of the show when it isn't focusing on complications that can arise with race. Dev is a thoughtful, funny main character similar to many other characters on television right now; the difference being that he is not white, and the show doesn't revolve around this fact.

Even though shows like Fresh Off the Boat and Blackish seem to have really important stories and points that they are trying to get across (I say 'seem' only because I haven't seen them - I'm sure they do though), because I think it is good to address how racial issues affect the lives of Asians and African-Americans (and Hispanics, and any other culture that isn't white and featured on television) -  but I just love how Master of None isn't solely focused on this. Yes, it is important that Dev is not a white character, and that he is in an interracial relationship (which certainly are not showcased often on television, despite the fact that they must be very common), and that his friends are of various ethnicities and cultures. But it is also so important to see such a character just doing everyday things, living his life and going to concerts and auditions and finding the best places to eat in New York City, and occasionally these everyday things are marred by race (i.e. not getting an acting job because his skin is darker or just having someone point out that he doesn't look like them because he isn't white), because that is reality. The show is just about humanity, human people doing human things and it doesn't matter if they are white or Taiwanese or Indian or African-American.

That is why we need more shows like MoN on television, rather than the current theme of diversity going, in which there is one person of colour featured and apparently that is enough representation to reflect the real world.